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Live - Shelby Gives NYC The Luxury Of Time

OK New York, while most of you were out getting your last call on at your local happy hour, some of us were already feeling good by rocking out to one of Gigantic Music’s newest bands. If you weren’t there then you really missed out. I know I have said it before, but they really are signing some of alternative rock’s best new artists out there today. Last night at eight o’clock sharp Shelby took the stage at the Mercury Lounge and made some new fans. I was really excited, as I haven’t seen a full set from the guys until last night. In the past I would always mange to catch one or two songs and it was always the same one, the single-tastic “The Golden Boy” with the echoing chorus that sticks in your head. I loved that song from the minute I heard it, and you will see why when their new full length, The Luxury Of Time is released in August.

Shelby started off the night with the slow “Jet Blast [Shame]” and set the tone of the evening with the lingering lyrics and drawn out violin. The band quickly changed pace and broke out with “The Wait”, a song that when you hear it has a strange familiarity to something you might have heard in the past, but is different enough to stand on it’s own. Shelby manages to take the best parts of Smashing Pumpkins and twist it with a pinch of My Bloody Valentine’s noises, which is something any fan of music should be able to appreciate. (It helps that Simone Pace from Blonde Redhead played on the album with them.) They played a great mix of their new songs and also managed to dip into their back catalog with “Home” a loud track that at the beginning had all the aspects of being an early Sonic Youth song. Another cool one was “Modify Myself” with big swirling indie rock guitars. It is kind of hard to pinpoint all the highlight tracks as the band is pretty tight live. I have not seen a young band that luscious sounding and so together in a long time. One of the best things though was witnessing singer Kenny Cummings’ massive range of vocals. The boy can sing, and kind of in the same way that Remy Zero’s Cinjun Tate would.

It is true that Shleby's music is timeless, and I think that given the chance, they will go far. So if you are looking for something new to check out then listen up to Shelby. You won’t be disappointed.